The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-05-06


His humor was much improved by this
piece of good luck, and as he strobe
| through the outer offices he felt the agree
able exhiIaratiOn of a man at peace with
the world When he was accosted at the
door by a round shOuldered, youHglsD
looking man, with blonde beard and spec
tacles he did not repeat his invitation TO
| 'tget out -
ter5'' he asked.
| with your permission, 1 am" the
young man replied, with marked Ger
man accent 81 think you would ind 1t
to your own advantage not to refuse me
| the interview"
CAN right; come in. y
He turned around briskly and passed
through the ground glass door to the inner
/ office. leaving the German to follow Mr..
/ Hardness was, like most of the bonanza
men of the Pacific coast, of a SangTIlne
/ and adventurous temperament, but scantilY
/ equipped with education He was ready
! for anything in which there was money,
| and no proposition in which money was
| involved was too daring for his considera-
! ton He was young and already twenty
! times a millionaire. To his visitor he
seemed the very incarnation of the hearty.
| generous, slam bang recklessness of the
| Pacific coast 1t would have surprised
! him, no doubt, if he had suspected that
this specialized, unpretentious looking for
| eigner had made complete inventory OF
! his characteristics from merely seeing him
! in the street and from hearing the rumor
of his daring naneuvers on the stock ex-
| change.
trWeI," Hardness remarked, ''fire
away I've got just fifteen minutes"
FsHalf an hour said the German,
| firmly
swell, fire away, man. Time at this
hour of the day is worth thousand dol
lars a minute.
"An right Then will be brief. My
name is Heinrich Wachtmeister. I was
two years ago tutor in chemistry at the
university of Utrecht. In that capacity
l was led to make certain experiments
which resulted in my discovering what
thousands have sought for in vain-the
secret of making gold. You open your
eyes, no doubt. in wonder. So did ]. The
gold was found in my possession, together
with q number of metallic plates and in
struments, which the stupid officials con-
cluded were intended for counterfeiting.
They would not believe my story, of
course, that made the gold. For cOun'
terfeiting was accordingly tried and SEN
fenced to two years Imprisonment. l
have Just now served out my sentence"
''You are a jailbird, then. It's pity
you didn't stay longer"
'FWait moment and you will see. -
DIR. Wachtmeister here entered upon a
detailed explanation of his chemical ex-
periments, declaring that gold had-neve
been proved to be an element, and that, if
it was compound, there was no reason.
why it should not be made. Science had
solved many riddles in modern times
which to the past were insOluble. He
begged Mr.. Hardness to grant him the
privilege of proving to him and five of his
friends, whom Mr.. Hardness should him.
self appoint, that his statements were
true He asked for no salary or emolu-
ments, but only desired to associate Mr.
Hardness renowned name with his own
in the enterprise which, if he carried it on
alone, would expose him to fresh difficult
ties with the law There was such ring
of sincerity and earnestness in his speech
that the millionaire was more than half
persuaded. He declared that he would
let him know in week whether he could
grant his request, and instantly cabled to
Utrecht to ascertain whether the story re-
lating to the imprisonment and trial for
counterfeiting5 were true. He received
the next day q cablegram corroborating
the story in all particulars. A second ap-
pointment was accordingly made, and the
test in the presence of witnesses agreed
upon. Wachtmeister begged as a favor
that some of these might be scientific ex-
perts, whose judgment had weight This,
too, was readily conceded.
Ill
The momentous day at last arrived In
Hardness Office half a dozen of the
milliOnaire's dependents were gathered,
all pledged to absolute secrecy, on the
penalty of losing their patrons favor.
Watchmeister arrived at the appointed
hour, carrying starch box under his arm
and followed by a boy who carried a small
fI1,of
melting pot. He was introduced to each
member of the company, among whom
there was one who had been induced to
persOnate the scientific expert. For Hank
ness, who like most men of his stamp had
small faith in scientists, had concluded
that no such one might readily steal the
secret (which he was now convinced was
well worth stealing), and he had, for this
reason, made, for the nonce, a professor
of chemistry out of one of his clerks
named Sawyer. Watchmeister immedi-
ately engaged this gentleman in converse
ton, and measured in an instant, the eX-
tent of his scientific requirements.
The little Introductory speech which he
made have not the space to repeat; but |
it was very clever.
''Now, gentlemen he said in con.
clusion, g must commit myself to your
honor. beg of you to examine carefully
the contents of this box You see that it
contains some black sand-a very, com
mon article, which is found in abundance |
round about in the state Here hold in /
my hand a small bottle of sulphate of iron.
But, pardon mel / came near
forgetting. l merely wish to convince |
you that my process is above board
without suspicion of fraud You will not |
require of me that 1 shall explain it to |
you" A
He thereupon stepped behind a screen |
and Invested himself of all his clothes,
which he handed out to the company beg
ging them to make sure that they con-
tanned no particle of the noble metal. One
by one his garments were returned to him; |
then the furnace, the box and the bottles, |
each after having been subjected to rigid |
examination. 1t was obvious that every
thing was fair and square. There was an
almost solemn silence in the room while
the alchemist labored behind the screen.
Every Insignificant little sound was lis
tened to with excited interest. The crack
ling of flames was heard, and the steady
blowing of the little bellows; then at last |
little cautious hammer blows, and before |
thirty minutes had elapsed Wachtmeister
SteODed forward holding q largo bar nj